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That’s what I heard as a child when I picked up the telephone receiver in my small Mississippi town. There was no dial tone, no indicator that messages were waiting, no list of missed calls. Just a quiet, calm voice, always female, at the other end of the line. And to complete the call, all you needed was a three-digit phone number. If that was not available, usually the operator could put you through to your party with just a name.

This Montgomery Advertiser op-ed by ACPP senior policy analyst Ron Gilbert makes the case that the proposed end of telephone regulation will harm low-income and rural Alabamians.